Contingent Spouse’s Pension

rothers

Hi all,

I am retiring from the police, my last day of service being this Thursday. I have just received two documents through in relation to my pension, one of them which shows the calculation says Partner’s pension payable in the event of your death £ x amount. The other document says that I am entitled to the retirement benefits shown below…… Contingent Spouse’s Pension £ x but that amount is over £3k less than the partners pension payable in the event of your death. 

Does anyone know which amount my wife will get when I turn my toes up?

Brie

do the documents have the same date?  have you made any decisions about your pension yet?  (taking a tax free lump sum or a guarantee period etc?)

rothers

Brie said:

do the documents have the same date?  have you made any decisions about your pension yet?  (taking a tax free lump sum or a guarantee period etc?)

Hi, yes, I’m taking a tax free lump sum then my regular annual pension. Has my wife’s pension been reduced as I’ve taken a lump sum?

DullGreyGuy

rothers said:

Brie said:

do the documents have the same date?  have you made any decisions about your pension yet?  (taking a tax free lump sum or a guarantee period etc?)

Hi, yes, I’m taking a tax free lump sum then my regular annual pension. Has my wife’s pension been reduced as I’ve taken a lump sum?

It will be... though it's hard to say if thats the explanation without seeing the figures in the context of the letter. 

rothers

I’m commuting £2k for my lump sum of £54k (I’m under 55 and haven’t reached 30 years so can’t get the 25% tax free lump sum), my wife would be losing over £3k of hers, that doesn’t seem right. 

Marcon

DullGreyGuy said:

rothers said:

Brie said:

do the documents have the same date?  have you made any decisions about your pension yet?  (taking a tax free lump sum or a guarantee period etc?)

Hi, yes, I’m taking a tax free lump sum then my regular annual pension. Has my wife’s pension been reduced as I’ve taken a lump sum?

It will be... though it's hard to say if thats the explanation without seeing the figures in the context of the letter. 

It's usually only the member's own pension which is reduced if they take tax free cash and give up part of their own pension - at least it is in private sector schemes! Is the police scheme different in that respect?

rothers

Marcon said:

DullGreyGuy said:

rothers said:

Brie said:

do the documents have the same date?  have you made any decisions about your pension yet?  (taking a tax free lump sum or a guarantee period etc?)

Hi, yes, I’m taking a tax free lump sum then my regular annual pension. Has my wife’s pension been reduced as I’ve taken a lump sum?

It will be... though it's hard to say if thats the explanation without seeing the figures in the context of the letter. 

It's usually only the member's own pension which is reduced if they take tax free cash and give up part of their own pension - at least it is in private sector schemes! Is the police scheme different in that respect?

I didn’t think so but I’ll look into it, I thought that the spouse pension was half of my pension no matter whether I took a lump sum or not. 

Lemon_dr1zzle

The partners pension is not reduced if you convert to lump sum 

rothers

Lemon_dr1zzle said:

The partners pension is not reduced if you convert to lump sum 

Thanks for confirming that, I’ve just no idea what the contingency pension is 🤷‍♂️

DullGreyGuy

Marcon said:

DullGreyGuy said:

rothers said:

Brie said:

do the documents have the same date?  have you made any decisions about your pension yet?  (taking a tax free lump sum or a guarantee period etc?)

Hi, yes, I’m taking a tax free lump sum then my regular annual pension. Has my wife’s pension been reduced as I’ve taken a lump sum?

It will be... though it's hard to say if thats the explanation without seeing the figures in the context of the letter. 

It's usually only the member's own pension which is reduced if they take tax free cash and give up part of their own pension - at least it is in private sector schemes! Is the police scheme different in that respect?

Based on the volume saying I'm wrong I will take it on the chin but the overwhelming majority do take the maximum cash lump sum they can and my experience of looking at in payment cases was the second life was almost always a clean percentage (33.33%, 50%, 66.66% etc) and universal within the scheme whereas had the lump sum only impacted the first life, and given not everyone can take the full 25% due to guarantees etc I'd expect more of a range of ratios 

rothers

DullGreyGuy said:

Marcon said:

DullGreyGuy said:

rothers said:

Brie said:

do the documents have the same date?  have you made any decisions about your pension yet?  (taking a tax free lump sum or a guarantee period etc?)

Hi, yes, I’m taking a tax free lump sum then my regular annual pension. Has my wife’s pension been reduced as I’ve taken a lump sum?

It will be... though it's hard to say if thats the explanation without seeing the figures in the context of the letter. 

It's usually only the member's own pension which is reduced if they take tax free cash and give up part of their own pension - at least it is in private sector schemes! Is the police scheme different in that respect?

Based on the volume saying I'm wrong I will take it on the chin but the overwhelming majority do take the maximum cash lump sum they can and my experience of looking at in payment cases was the second life was almost always a clean percentage (33.33%, 50%, 66.66% etc) and universal within the scheme whereas had the lump sum only impacted the first life, and given not everyone can take the full 25% due to guarantees etc I'd expect more of a range of ratios 

You’re right I think, my wife will get half of my full pension, mine is reduced due to me commuting some for the lump sum. I am limited to a maximum lump sum of 2.25 x my annual pension due to the fact that I only served for 27.5 years and am not 55 yet.